Tara Lynn Masih

Fiction Writer

St Augustine, FL
Florida US

Author's Bio

 Tara Lynn Masih received a Julia Ward Howe Award and was honored as a National Jewish Book Award finalist for her acclaimed YA novel My Real Name Is Hanna. Tara's adult debut historical, The Silent Women, is forthcoming from Storm Publishing September 2026. Her anthologies include The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays. How We Disappear: Novella & Stories is her second collection from Press 53. She founded The Best Small Fictions series in 2015. Additional awards for her work include the Lou P. Bunce Creative Writing Award, The Ledge Magazine’s Fiction Award, a finalist fiction grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Wigleaf Top 50 recognition, and Pushcart Prize nominations for both fiction and creative nonfiction. Tara has published in numerous anthologies and literary magazines (such as Confrontation, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Natural Bridge, Night Train, The Los Angeles Review, Pleiades, and The Caribbean Writer), and her essays have been read on NPR and translated into dance. A regular contributor to The Indian-American and Masala magazines, she received several national book awards including an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for her role as a book editor.

 

 

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018)
,
The Best Small Fictions 2015-17 (Braddock Avenue Books, 2017)
,
Flashed: Sudden Stories in Comics and Prose (Pressgang, 2016)
,
Shale: Extreme Fiction for Extreme Conditions (Texture Press, 2015)
,
Flash Fiction Funny (Blue Light Press, 2013)
,
Stripped (philadelphia stories, 2012)
,
Brevity & Echo: An Anthology of Short Short Stories (Rose Metal Press, 2006)
,
Hacks: 10 Years on Grub Street (Grub Street, 2006)
,
In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief (Sherman Asher Publishing, 2006)
,
Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami (Bayeux Arts, 2005)
,
Aunties: 35 Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother (Ballantine Books, 2004)
,
Essential Love (PoetWorks Press, 2000)
,
Two Worlds Walking (New Rivers Press, 1994)
,
Word of Mouth (Crossing Press, 1990)
Books:
How We Disappear: Novella & Stories (Press 53, 2022)
,
My Real Name Is Hanna (Mandel Vilar Press, 2018)
,
Where the Dog Star Never Glows: Stories (Press 53, 2010)
Chapbooks:
The Age of Rocks (Feral Press, 2009)
,
Tall Grasses: Two Fables (Feral Press, 2007)
,
Fragile Skins (Feral Press, 2006)
Journals: ,
Caribbean Writer
,
Confrontation
,
Divide
, ,
Ledge
, ,
Pangolin Papers
, , ,
The Indian-American
Prizes won: 

Two Florida Book Awards, gold medal in YA and bronze medal in General Fiction; the Julia Ward Howe Award for Young Readers; a gold, silver, and bronze medal in ForeWord's Book of the Year awards; a silver Benjamin Franklin Award; two Skipping Stones Honor Book Awards in the Multicultural and International Book Category; a New England Book Festival award for anthology/collection; The Ledge Magazine Fiction contest.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Indian American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Raised in: 
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 30, 2026